Sheet register mechanism



Jan. 1, 1963 D. A. STEVENSON SHEET REGISTER MECHANISM 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 15, 1960 Attorney S Jan. 1, 1963 D. A. STEVENSON SHEET REGISTER MECHANISM 3 SheetsSheet 2 Filed July 15, 1960 I nuentor fimp m y flaw/WM A Home y S Jan. 1, 1963 D. AYSTEVENSON SHEET REGISTER MECHANISM 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed July 15, 1960 Inventor fl m m,

Attorney 5 United States Patent Ofilice 3,071,372 Patented Jan. 1, 1963 3,071,372 SHEET REGISTER MECHANISM Derek Anthony Stevenson, Leeds, England, assignor to R. W. Crabtree & Sons Limited Filed July 15, 1960, Ser. No. 43,098 Claims priority, application Great Britain July 24, 1959 2 Claims. (Cl. 271-53) This invention relates to mechanism employed to effect the front registration of sheets preparatory to their being forwarded for an operation upon them: such register mechanism is used on various different classes of sheet handling machines and is in common use in sheet printing machines: for convenience in what follows reference will mainly be made to sheet printing machines.

Such front register mechanism comprises sheet stops, usually termed front lays: such front lays are moved into the path of movement of the sheet so as to bring it to rest momentarily to effect the required registration and are then lowered to move clear of the front edge of the sheet to permit it to be taken by grippers which pass the now registered sheet forward to the printing mechanism.

Most commonly the front lays (which are two or more in number, depending on the width of the sheets being dealt with) are mounted on a shaft which is rocked to move the lays into and out of registering position: the shaft is usually adjustable so as to advance or retract the lays in the path of the sheet advancing towards them and in some cases provision is made for the lays to be set in a slightly skewed position relative to the advance of the sheet.

Especially inthe case where very wide sheets are to be used (say sheets exceeding 50" in width) the lays may amount to anything from four to eight or even more in number: the adjustment of the shaft in such cases in particular is not always sufficient: for this reason it becomes necessary to adjust the lays individually, this being particularly the case where, for accuracy in printing, it is required to set the lays to a line which is curved either convexly or concavely with the respect to the on coming edge of the sheet to be registered by the lays.

In the mechanism so far provided adjustment of the lays usually necessitates the stopping of the machine: in addition, the adjustment of the lays individually is mainly a matter of trial and error which involves repeatedly stopping the machine and re-starting it until the optimum setting is obtained.

It is one object of the present invention to provide a front lay mechanism such that adjustment can be made while the machine is running so that the time at present occupied can be considerably reduced.

A further object of this invention is to provide a front lay mechanism which can be adjusted remotely from a point at which the effects of the setting on the sheets can be examined and the setting varied to make any change which may be necessary from the examination zone.

Broadly stated the present invention consists in so mounting some and usually all of the front lays for adjustment in their setting and in providing adjusting mechanism disposed for operation to effect adjustment of the lays while the machine is running.

A further feature consists in providing an adjustment mechanism which is coupled to the front lays by remote transmission so that control of the setting can be achieved from a zone convenient to the operator and advantageous- 1y at a Zone at which the sheets can be observed by the operator who is thereby able to inspect the effect of adjustment and to correct it if necessary.

Usually the two features would be incorporated in the one installation to obtain the benefits of both features and such an incorporation will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings FIGURE 1 is a side elevation and FIGURE 2 is a local plan view of part of the length of a front lay assembly in accordance with this invention, FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of a remote control box and FIGURE 4 is a diagrammatic side elevation of a sheet-fed printing machine showing the application of the invention to it.

Referring firstly to FIGURES 1 and 2, the front lays are indicated at 1, the various lays extending in a transverse row across the direction of advancing movement of the sheet to be front registered while on a feed board X.

The various lays are similar and each has similar control mechanism: thus each lay 1 is mounted on a carriage 2 which is moved backwards and forwards by a lever pivoted at '4, one arm 5 of the lever being pivotally connected to the carriage at 6 and the other arm 7 having a follower roller 8 making engagement with an edge cam 9, the lever being biased by a spring 10 to carry the roller towards the cam.

The carriage 2 is guided in its movement by a cam track 11 on blocks 11 and in which run rollers 12 on the carriage 2: the track is shaped as is shown in FIG- URE 1 so that as the carriage moves to the right into position to register a sheet, it lifts the lay 1 above the level of the advancing sheets shown at S: when the car riage is moved to the left (which is timed to occur after the sheet S has been brought to rest temporarily and registered by the front lay 1) the cam track 11 causes the carriage 2 to be lowered by rocking about the pivot 6 so as to move the lay 1 to below the level of the sheets; this action frees the registered sheet which now passes on as by being taken by grippers (not shown) on a feed cylinder F. The various front lays are carried by a shaft 9 which is driven by the machine to which the sheets S are fed by the feed cylinder F so that the registering of the sheet and its release are operations which are effected in step with the sheet feeding requirements of the machine.

In order to vary the settings of the various front lays 1 individually a stop 14 is disposed in the path movement of an abutment 15 on each of the carriages 2: each stop is adjustable to be engaged by the corresponding abutment 15 earlier or later in the movement of its carriage 2 forward (i.e. to the right) to operative position. Thus by manipulation of the stops 14 the front register setting of the lays 1 can be varied.

For the purpose of this adjustment, the stop 14 is in the construction shown on a lever 14* pivotally mounted on a pivot 16 so that, by rocking the lever, the stop is advanced or retracted. This adjustment can obviously be made while the machine is running. As each front lay 1 would be similarly controlled, it follows that each stop can be individually controlled by rocking the various levers 14 individually.

The invention also makes provision to enable remote control of'the various levers 14 to be obtained from say the delivery of the machine where the effect of adjustment of the front lay can be inspected. For this purpose each of the levers 14 has pivoted to it at 17 a rod 18 which is screw-threaded to engage a rotatable nut 19 in a unit frame 19": the nut is fast with a bevel 20 in mesh with a bevel 21 on a spindle 22 coupled to a low-speed reversible motor 23. The various motors 23 are controlled by an electrical remote transmission from a control box 24, such as is shown in FIGURE 3 and each having forward and reverse pushes 25, 26 by manipulation of which the selected motor 23 causes the corresponding lever 14 to be rocked in one direction or the other.

In order also to give an indication of the setting of the various leversl and'hence of the individual front lays 1 at the control zone, the various nuts 19 are extended to operate potentiometers '27 in the circuit of volt meters shown at 28 in FIGURE 3, these volt meters being calibrated in terms of adjustment from a datum position.

In FIGURE 4 is shown the application of the appa' ratus of this invention to a well-known type of sheet fed printing machine of the off-set sheet perfecting kind in which sheets S are taken by the cylinder F from a sheet feeding apparatus 29, are then registered as described by the front stops 1, pass thence to the cylinders 30 of the printing unit and finally are taken by a conveyor 31 which lays the printed and perfected sheets on a delivery pile 32.

As will be clear from this figure, this invention enables the control box 24 to be disposed for example in a position convenient to an operator stationed at the delivery station 32 where he is able to examine the printed sheets and, by operation of the appropriate push-buttons 25, 26, set the front stops 1 as necessary and, of course, while the machine is in operation.

I claim:

1. In a sheet printing machine, means to vforward sheets in succession to the machine, a plurality of lays disposed substantially in a line across the path of movement of thesheets, each lay being mounted for movement transversely of both the path of movement of said sheets and of said line of disposition of said lays between an operative position to intercept the advancing end of the sheet and an inoperative position and also for movementlongitudinally in directions generally parallel to the path of movement of said sheets, positive means for moving each lay to its inoperative position and in one direction longitudinally of the path of movement of said sheets, spring means for moving each lay to its operative position and in the opposite direction longitudinally of the path of movement of said sheets, a stop member engageable with each lay in response to the longitudinal movement of each lay in said opposite direction and to its operative position, a lever carrying each stop member, and remotely controllable separate means respectively connected to said levers for swinging each lever individually to adjust the associated stop member to predetermine the operative positions of said lays in alinement with each other.

2. In a sheet printing machine, means to forward sheets in succession to the machine, a plurality of lays disposed substantially in a line across the path of movement of the sheets, each lay being mounted for movement transversely of both the paths of movement of said sheets and of said line of disposition of said lays between an operative position to intercept the advancing end of the sheet and an inoperative position and also for movement longitudinally in directions generally parallel to the path of movement of said sheets, positive means for moving each lay to its inoperative position, spring means for moving each lay to its operative position and in one direction longitudinally of the path of movement of said sheets, a stop member engageable with each lay in response to longitudinal movement of each lay accompanying movement of the lay to its operative position, a bell crank lever for each stop member and to one end of which such stop member is secured, a plurality separately controllable electric motors corresponding in number to said bell crank levers, means for separately controlling said motors, and motion transmitting means connected between each motor and the other arm of each bell crank lever to swing the latter and adjust the associated stop whereby said'lays may be accurately individually adjusted in alinement with each other.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 391,178 Miehle Oct, 16, 1888 990,311 Stratton Apr. 25, 1911 1,568,540 Barber June 5, 1926 1,615,174 Kelly Ian. 18, 1927 2,087,997 Reinatz July 27, 1937 2,812,940 Kes Nov. 12, 1957 OTHER REFERENCES Cams (book), by Harold A. Rothbart, published by John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, 1956, pp. 307, 308. (Library of Congress, Catalog Card Number 56-7163, Patent Olfice Scientific Library Number, Tj 206 R6.) 

1. IN A SHEET PRINTING MACHINE, MEANS TO FORWARD SHEETS IN SUCCESSION TO THE MACHINE, A PLURALITY OF LAYS DISPOSED SUBSTANTIALLY IN A LINE ACROSS THE PATH OF MOVEMENT OF THE SHEETS, EACH LAY BEING MOUNTED FOR MOVEMENT TRANSVERSELY OF BOTH THE PATH OF MOVEMENT OF SAID SHEETS AND OF SAID LINE OF DISPOSITION OF SAID LAYS BETWEEN AN OPERATIVE POSITION TO INTERCEPT THE ADVANCING END OF THE SHEET AND AN INOPERATIVE POSITION AND ALSO FOR MOVEMENT LONGITUDINALLY IN DIRECTIONS GENERALLY PARALLEL TO THE PATH OF MOVEMENT OF SAID SHEETS, POSITIVE MEANS FOR MOVING EACH LAY TO ITS INOPERATIVE POSITION AND IN ONE DIRECTION LONGITUDINALLY OF THE PATH OF MOVEMENT OF SAID SHEETS, SPRING MEANS FOR MOVING EACH LAY TO ITS OPERATIVE POSITION AND IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION LONGITUDINALLY OF THE PATH OF MOVEMENT OF SAID SHEETS, A STOP MEMBER ENGAGEABLE WITH EACH LAY IN RESPONSE TO THE LONGITUDINAL MOVEMENT OF EACH LAY IN SAID OPPOSITE DIRECTION AND TO ITS OPERATIVE POSITION, A LEVER CARRYING EACH STOP MEMBER, AND REMOTELY CONTROLLABLE SEPARATE MEANS RESPECTIVELY CONNECTED TO SAID LEVERS FOR SWINGING EACH LEVER INDIVIDUALLY TO ADJUST THE ASSOCIATED STOP MEMBER TO PREDETERMINE THE OPERATIVE POSITIONS OF SAID LAYS IN ALINEMENT WITH EACH OTHER. 